Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Hill of Crosses -- Lithuania --Tomas Butvilas

If anyone goes back far enough on my blogs, you will find blogs that deal with a Lithuanian by the name of Tomas Butvilas. Tomas lived with us one summer in the early 2000's. He was discerning a vocation in those days. Because of his visit here, I eventually, went there to Lithuania to visit him. I will always have very many wonderful memories of that country, Tomas and now of course, his family.

One place that Tomas made sure that I saw is called The Hill of Crosses. Since he had told me about this place before I went there, I was prepared with some crosses from Mount Michael and from my family. I placed them there at that time.

It is a very awesome place. There are millions and millions of crosses from all over the world. And there is an other worldly atmosphere about the place. You can hear the tinkling of crosses as the wind blows. It is really something. Below are some photos.

The cross that I am holding is one that was made by John Kriskey, father of alum Tom Kriskey of 1994. It is also a decade of the rosary. My Mom used this as her rosary for the last years of her life.﻿

To know the cross is not merely to know our own sufferings. For the cross is the sign of salvation, and no one is saved by his own sufferings. To know the cross is to know that we are saved by the sufferings of Christ; more, it is to know the love of Christ who underwent sufffering and death in order to save us. It is, then, to know Christ.

Ever since I wrote an article entitled, Fearing Failure, I have had lots of people tell me that it was very helpful for them or that they could identify with it. As a result of that feedback, all of this has caused me to do much thinking. I am reminded of a phrase that I recall from Henri Nouwen – “the more personal – the more universal.”
I am presenting a series of articles related to vocational discernment, personal stories from members of the Mount Michael Community, and generally vocation-related topics.
I hope some of this material is helpful and if nothing else interesting.